NFL seeks safe stars for Super Bowl halftime shows

Bruce Springsteen this year joined the list of aging rockers -- all men -- who have performed in the Super Bowl halftime show in the five years since Janet Jackson's infamous "wardrobe malfunction."

It's clear that the NFL front office wants no more surprises.They're in the business of selling advertising time, and they want a halftime show anchored by celebrity artists who won't cause them or their corporate sponsors trouble.

Springsteen's 12-minute show was exactly what the NFL ordered, beginning with his opening line: "I want you to put the chicken fingers down and turn your television all the way up."

Springsteen then threw himself into his four-song set, opening with Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out and Born to Run. He followed with his newest piece, Working on a Dream, which was backed by a choir. He then closed out with a playful version of Glory Days that fittingly altered the lyrics from baseball to football to fit the occasion.

It was the league's pursuit of haltime star power that brought Jackson and Justin Timberlake to the stage of Houston's Reliant Stadium on Feb. 1, 2004. They were performing a duet of Timberlake's song Rock Your Body on the live broadcast when Timberlake pulled off a part of Jackson's costume, revealing her naked breast to a startled nation. CBS immediately cut away, but the controversy brought thousands of complaints, an FCC investigation and various court cases. The NFL fired MTV as its halftime show producer.

Super Bowl performers since then have been safe, middle-aged acts: Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, Prince, Tom Petty and Springsteen.

Even so, those acts may owe their appearances to the New Kids on the Block.

In 1991, the boy band made history of sorts as the first contemporary pop act to perform at a Super Bowl halftime show.

The performance wasn't particularly memorable, even by New Kids standards. But it was a step up on the pop-culture buzz meter over such previous halftime fare as Up With People, Carol Channing and the Rockettes.

Ever since, the National Football League has been acting as the country's biggest single-event concert promoter. Even with only 12 minutes to perform and a five-second tape delay, major rock, pop and country acts have proved more than eager to play.

That's because so many people watch the Super Bowl on television (more than 148 million people in the United States last year).

Halftime, of course, isn't really about music.

Almost without exception, the performances are dull, carefully choreographed spectacles, long on fireworks and flash. Lacking is the drama of a great live performance, which in part hinges on the possibility that anything can happen.

Here's a look back at halftime appearances:

I (1967) - Universities of Arizona and Michigan bands II (1968) - Grambling University band III (1969) - Florida A&M University band IV (1970) - Carol Channing V (1971) - Florida A&M band VI (1972) - Ella Fitzgerald, Carol Channing, Al Hirt and U.S. Marine Corps Drill Team VII (1973) - University of Michigan band and Woody Herman VIII (1974) - University of Texas band IX (1975) - Mercer Ellington and Grambling University bands X (1976) - Up With People XI (1977) - Los Angeles Unified All-City band and Crowd Participation XII (1978) - Tyler Apache Belles, Pete Fountain and Al Hirt XIII (1979) - Ken Hamilton, various Caribbean bands XIV (1980) - Up With People XV (1981) - Southern University band, Helen O'Connell XVI (1982) - Up With People XVII (1983) - Los Angeles Super Drill Team XVIII (1984) - University of Florida and Florida State University bands XIX (1985) - U.S. Air Force band: "Tops in Blue" XX (1986) - Up With People XXI (1987) - Southern California-area high school drill teams and dancers XXII (1988) - Chubby Checker/Rockettes and 88 grand pianos XXIII (1989) - South Florida-area dancers and performers and 3-D effects XXIV (1990) - Pete Fountain/Doug Kershaw/Irma Thomas XXV (1991) - New Kids on the Block performs; soon after, its streak of top 10 hits ends. XXVI (1992) - Gloria Estefan gamely tries to make "winter magic" with ice skaters Brian Boitano and Dorothy Hamill. XXVII (1993) - A decade before he faces child-abuse allegations in court, Michael Jackson vows to "heal the world" while performing with 3,500 schoolchildren. In attendance is O.J. Simpson, the game's honorary coin-tosser. XXVIII (1994) - After Clint Black, Tanya Tucker, Travis Tritt and Naomi and Wynonna Judd perform, fans send what appear to be SOS signals with flashlights stashed in bags under their seats. XXIX (1995) - Disney: A train wreck in which Patti LaBelle, Tony Bennett, Arturo Sandoval and Miami Sound Machine recast "Indiana Jones" as a musical. XXX (1996) - Diana Ross sings "Take Me Higher," then is lifted off the field in a helicopter. XXXI (1997) - The fake Blues Brothers try to prime the pump for a new movie, with the late John Belushi replaced not only by brother Jim Belushi but also by John Goodman. XXXII (1998) - Motown celebrates its 40th anniversary, but no one tries to moon-walk. XXXIII (1999) - Gloria Estefan, again. Stevie Wonder tap-dances with Savion Glover, sort of. Swing band Big Bad Voodoo Daddy compresses its 15 minutes of fame into a couple of cutaway camera shots. XXXIV (2000) - Another lifeless Disney production, with Phil Collins reduced to shilling for the "Tarzan" soundtrack while actor-narrator Edward James Olmos invites dumbstruck viewers to enter the "gateway of time" to feel "the rhythm of our hearts" inside a "tapestry of magic." XXXV (2001) - MTV makes its debut as halftime producer and creates Frankenstein: Aerosmith, Britney Spears and `N Sync merge rock and cheese on "Walk This Way." XXXVI (2002) - With Bono opening his leather jacket to reveal a stitched-in American flag, U2 pays tribute to 9/11 victims and promotes its latest album. XXXVII (2003) - Gwen Stefani duets with Sting and, miraculously, no Police songs are seriously harmed. XXXVIII (2004) - The first halftime show more famous than the game itself. Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" eclipses one of the best Super Bowl games ever and leads to stricter decency guidelines for TV and radio. XXXIX (2005) - Paul McCartney used to get busted for smoking pot and wrote a song called "Why Don't We Do It in the Road." Now he's the artist the NFL picks to restore its post-Janet family-friendly dignity. McCartney dutifully complies with a feel-good set topped by "Hey Jude." XL (2006) - The Rolling Stones fail to sneak a couple of risque lyrics past the censors, but still do a decent job of rocking the house with a trash-compactor guitar sound courtesy of Keith Richards and Ron Wood. It's the best, nastiest Super Bowl halftime performance by far. XLI (2007) - Although he once specialized in sexually explicit performances, Prince evolved into the ideal Super Bowl halftime entertainer: a born-again Christian and Vegas act with a treasure-trove of hits. XLII (2008) - Tom Petty took the stage for a down-to-earth set including "Free Fallin' " and "I Won't Back Down."